PATRON + Scottsboro, Alabama- Robert Thomas Scott the founder convinced a railroad….
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Love this setting. Would love to live here:)
This is nice and peaceful yes I would like to live there
Eric Haase
I have family in Scottsboro…I love it there!!!
wonder if he was any relation to any of my Scott line ?
Jackson County’s original courthouse was at Bellefonte. The railroad to Scottsboro changed that and was the downfall of Bellefonte.
Sauta Cave was Jackson County’s first seat of justice, then Woodville until 1821. At that time, Bellefonte became Jackson County’s county seat. Woodville became the county seat of Decatur County in 1821. The Union Army destroyed and burned most of Bellefonte!
Woodville was never the county seat of
Jackson County. Woodville was the county seat of short-lived Decatur County.
Very true. County records before the early 1850s were burned by Union troops at Bellefonte. This included records for areas that are now parts of north Marshall Co. Records after about 1852 were being kept at Scottsboro and were safe. Very frustrating for anyone with ancestors in that area in the early 1800s.
Oh yes, that AWFUL union army. *rolls eyes*
Thanks so much for the additional information. We’ll see if we can find more info on Bellefonte.
I believe Jackson County was part of the Free State of Nickajack movement as well. Union troops camped inside the courthouse burned various court records. It’s unclear who completely burned the courthouse at the end of the war. Various court records survived and indexes are available for those records. TVA has an excellent online article regarding the Historic Town of Bellefonte.
The Free State of Nickajack never materialized after the Civil War began. There are no extant records that connect Jackson to the Free State of Nickajack.
Report on Old Bellefonte: An Historical Site in Northern Alabama, August 31, 1974, by TVA and UAB. http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1111/ML111160144.pdf
Pat Pat Gardiner Owen Sarah Owen
Must visit Gorham’s Bluff Alabama when you are in Scottsboro.
always enjoyed visiting the scottsboro trade days around the courthouse..and the unclaimed baggage store….scottsboro us a really cool town
Two corrections to the above history of Scottsboro:
1. Crow Town was located 15 miles north of Scottsboro. The Jackson County Historical Association placed a historic marker near the site of Crow Town which was near the Tennessee River just south of Stevenson.
2. Scottsboro became the county seat in 1868 – NOT 1860. The county records were moved from Bellefonte to Scottsboro in November 1868.
Thank you for the corrections Ann.
The trade days aren’t any good now, city built a new city hall and fire station and parking on the empty lots so there is no room for vendors what still comes has to set up right around the courthouse.
Pretty little town.
Robert T. Scott did NOT operate a hotel in Bellefonte before founding Scottsboro. He was a newspaper editor, represented Jackson County in the Alabama Legislature, and served in several appointments at the Federal level.
Thanks for the corrections Ann. Sometimes history books can be wrong. I’ll include your comments at the end of the article.
Nice an peaceful been here over 20 yrs the folks here are nice an have there own ways
Near Old Fabius, where my family took their Cherokee land in the Treaty of 1817.
Great Articles, thanks Alabama Pioneers! Beautiful photographs!
I live here….I love it <3
This place looks like it would have some good shade this time of year .
Drake Jones
Best town in the world. I grew up there. My family moved there in the 1850s. The cabin at Sagetown is the DIcus Campbell cabin given by my mother Anna Ruth Dicus Campbell and her brother Geirge Dicus in memory of their parents Belle and Houston Dicus. I have lived 40 years in Huntsville but I still call both Scottsboro and Huntsville home. Love Scottsboro!!!!
Great little airport there. When we were living in Pittsburgh and flying regularly to Tuscaloosa, if we had a particularly strong headwind and needed fuel, this was always our stop.
http://www.aopa.org/airports/4A6
They grow good apples on Crow Mountain!!!
This mentions that Robt. Thomas Scott ran the hotel in Bellefonte. Before Scottsboro became the county seat in 1860, the county courthouse was in Bellefonte. Plans to build the new courthouse were put on hold due to the outbreak of the Civil War. During the war, Union troops sacked Bellefonte and burned Jackson Co. records prior to 1853. The courthouse in Scottsboro was finally built in 1868. The burning of early Jackson Co. records during the war is a big stumbling block for genealogists with roots in the area. See the following for a study on the history of Bellefonte- http://pbadupws.nrc.gov/docs/ML1111/ML111160144.pdf
Thanks for sharing.
Alvie Roberts
Scottsboro is EAST of Huntsville, not west.
Now you’re getting into my neck of Alabama.
Love these stories.
How neat that you found this Michelle Baker
My Cherokee family came from a place near here, Old Fabius…
My mother’s family goes back four generations in Jackson Co, Davis, Brown and Hawkins.
We lived in Scottsboro a couple of years
My hometown. My Cherokee roots
Don’t think it is west of Huntsville?
always liked the drive up to Scottsboro, for the 1st sunday tradedays…we started going there with my aunt and unle when I was just a young boy
The Scottsboro Trial was not held in Scottsboro, but moved to Decatur, AL. Is that not what happened?
I could live right there.
Interesting article with Ann Ann B Chambless’ corrections included.
Another great article and pics. It would be great if and when (in this example) there are competing statements if the person asserting the corrections (in this case Mrs. Chambless) to include sources if possible. It would save us “historian” types (for lack of a better word, ha ha) a lot of money trying to track down the facts. Thanks so very much and I appreciate the time and effort taken in sharing information like this.
I could live there.
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